CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Julia's rooms

Late evening, Saturday Evening May 24th

Julia's fever soaked her bedclothes. She had all the windows open to cool the attic off a bit, drinking a draught after draught of willow bark powder and using an alcohol bath on her skin, yet nothing seemed to make any difference as the hours dragged by. The bloody cramping had started again on the train. Even then she hesitated…thought about getting off the train and turning around to head back to Toronto, but something, pride perhaps, or shame, kept her in her seat. She was not quite certain what day it was, remembering only she came back on the ferry from Rochester to Toronto, then bypassed Father to get on the train to Montreal, then straight to her fourth-floor rooms in the Evans Street boarding house. She was not sure why she came back here, only that she did not think she could face her father—or hide from him what she had done.

Mrs. Clyne was alarmed when Julia did not come down to meals and asked for tea and toast to be brought up to her room. The landlady accepted Julia's excuse of food poisoning and was gracious about leaving trays of tea and bread on the landing—and leaving Julia alone from pestering or prying.

The shivering was back. Black discharge soiled her nightdress. Julia never felt so alone in her whole life, not even when the abortionist did the deed. Now, she was almost beyond caring, delirious, dehydrated, in pain.

Noises on the landing and a knock on her door barely roused her. She did not invite them in. She felt the air move then two figures hovered above her. Then nothing…

.o-0-0-0-o.

Sunday May 25th

"…That's right. No…don't push my hand away."

Slowly, very slowly Julia swallowed the cool liquid someone was pressing to her lips. Something cold was on her brow and that felt wonderful as well. She kept her eyes closed, falling back asleep.

.o-0-0-0-o.

"Julia, wake up. Can you hear me?"

She felt herself being shaken. It sounded like Isaac. How can that be?

"Julia. Wake up. You have to talk to me so I can help you."

She opened her eyes. Isaac's face swam into focus. Using the remainder of her strength, she hauled herself more upright in bed. "Water…"

Isaac brought her a glass and she drank it down. "What are you doing here?" she croaked.

"Mrs. Clyne contacted me. She said you became ill after spending some time with your sister."

"Yes."

"And refused to see a doctor."

"Spoiled oysters…it's just…" She pushed him back. Oh, God. Why is he here? Just leave me alone. "I will be all right."

Isaac sat down on the side of her bed. "Julia, you can trust me. Please tell me what happened. I need to know…exactly what happened."

Julia shook her head which made her feel dizzy. "You cannot help me, Isaac. Leave me alone." She patted his hand. "I am sorry for arguing with you…"

Isaac shook her. "Some doctor you are going to be, by being such a poor example for her patients."

Julia was too dehydrated to cry. "Isaac, I am so sorry, but you cannot help me." If he did, if he knew, he would be caught in another dilemma and he had already made it clear that was a bridge too far for him.

He shook her again, bending closer. "Julia, don't be so stubborn!"

She cleared her throat and forced some breath out. "Go. Away." This is my trouble. I am not going to admit anything to him for his sake as well as mine. "That's final."

"Good God, Julia! Be sensible!" Isaac said between his teeth. He sat, holding her hand, mopping her brow, mind turning in circles with worry.

Julia looked awful and her vital signs were, if possible, worse, causing him to have real fear for her life. She had a raging fever and was terribly weak. Food poisoning, he knew, could be dangerous; at the extreme it was fatal.

But he also had a fair idea what happened to her in Rochester, and it was not bad seafood.

His heart was absolutely breaking and furious at the same time. No infection was going to kill her. No. Not that.

He rose from the bedside, running his hands through his hair in frustration. When Julia Ogden gets this obstinate, nothing moves her, and this time it is going to cost her her life.

Isaac replaced one cool rag with another. She was slipping away. All for a secret. Even so, he thought he understood how keeping a secret can have one feel backed into a corner, unable to trust, having nowhere to turn. He scanned her restless form lying on her bed. She looked so small, fragile, despite her winning the battle of wills between them. Guilt washed over him.

If my guess is right, I have as much as put her here at Death's door.

Isaac went back to Julia and pulled her upright against the headboard, feeding her more water, desperate to reach her. "Julia! Julia! Listen to me. I have to tell you something. Julia? Please open your eyes."

She swung her face in his direction and did as she was told. He waited until some semblance of awareness animated her blue gaze. "Are you real?" she asked.

"Julia, in order for me to help you, you must risk something. The truth. You must tell me the truth and trust me with that information." She nodded, but it was hard for him to tell if she understood. He shook her roughly. "Do you understand?"

This time she narrowed her eyes in anger. "Yes. I have not found the truth to be so pleasant. What do you want, Isaac?"

"I want to help you. So…so it is only fair I risk something in exchange." He saw her nod again. Isaac double checked the door was firmly shut. He took in a huge lungful of air and exhaled. He sat next to her, taking her hand, getting her to look at him straight in the eye. For just a millisecond he faltered.

We both make it or we both go down together.

"Julia, you remember Dr. James Ross, who was murdered by Richard Jenkins?" She frowned but gave a short bob to her head. "And Henry Bérubé who refused to testify?" Another confused head nod. "I knew them, Julia; I knew all three. And I know why Richard Jenkins killed Dr. James Ross and why Henry Bérubé refused to testify. A love triangle. Both Richard and James Ross were in love with Henry. Richard was jealous and wanted Henry all to himself, and when Henry refused his advances, Richard killed James Ross to get his rival out of the way. Henry felt ashamed of being the cause of Jenkins' deranged actions, but were he to testify to the truth, he'd be jailed on charges of indecency and he'd lose everything else on top of losing the man he loved."

Isaac saw that Julia was following the story, surprise registering on her face, still mixed with confusion. "Julia, I knew all three men because I am… like them. I…I am homosexual. James Ross was my first lover." Isaac's heart was in his throat and he felt his hands shake. He'd never actually spoken those words out loud to any living person before in his life.

"So…so you see you have the secret which could ruin me if I ever breathed a word of your secret to another soul. So please, for Heaven's sake, Julia. Please forgive me. I never should have turned you down when you asked for my help. Tell me exactly what kind of abortion you had in Rochester so I can treat you and save your life."

For a long minute he thought she was going to turn to the wall and stay silent. She reached for him, anchoring her long fingers in his waistcoat, closing her eyes. She brought his head down towards hers.

"You are real…" She whispered haltingly to him: "Isaac, thank you. Thank you… I am so sorry… Don't be angry with me…not your fault. Please help me, I don't want to die. I will tell you everything…"

-END-

*REVIEWS ENCOURAGED*

Dear Reader: I hope you enjoyed this story—more of a character study of Julia, my intention being to foreshadow events we find later in her life with the series, because we have so very little 'origins' or back story for her. This one was a beast for me to write for some reason. This is the third installment of the Julia Series - Please see my notes from Not Afraid of Storms set in 1889 & A Most Difficult Year set in 1890-1891 for how I arrived at her age and when she was in school and with whom.

HUGE thank you to GoodMorningMoon for a beta-read, and "Dutch" for ongoing chapter reads, and RomanticNerd & Miss Ruth for getting me unstuck by gifting me with a long-distance phone call. All good goes to them; all errors are mine. As you may notice, I am not a solitary writer in a garret or cabin somewhere, I require lots of folks to bounce ideas off of…er…folks off of whom I need to bounce ideas….tee hee.

Story Notes:

I LOVE the character of Isaac Tash and his importance to Julia. I am sorry he does not figure in more of the episodes. I have made him queer in my head- cannon from the beginning, and in this story I wanted to have him share a deep, dangerous secret in exchange for Julia's deep dangerous secret as part of their bond.

The Montreal Windsor Hotel was an amazing edifice with a gold leaf lobby.

Bishop's Medical College did not last very long; it was an all-volunteer affair and eventually ran out of money, in part because it did not attract enough women (and their school fees) to keep it open; it was in its day seen as one of the most progressive schools. Many schools decried the dearth of women who wished to pursue medicine – institutional sexism seeming to escape the male leaders of these institutions as one of the reasons why; the second being that women were not permitted to take residencies at hospitals, sometimes not even permitted as interns either. The Bishop's medical building, which was sponsored and built by two of the professors, was eventually absorbed into McGill.

As medical students at Bishop's, Octavia Grace Ritchie and Maude Abbott formed an organization, Association for the Professional Education of Women, to advocate for other women seeking medical or other advanced degrees

Octavia Grace Ritchie became the second wife of a fellow doctor (alas not Francis Gains) Frank Richardson England, in 1897 - and he might have been her teacher at Bishop's at one time.

Maude Abbott started at Bishops during Octavia Ritchie's last year. She never married - being 'married' to medicine. There are also rumours that she was in love/smitten with/infatuated with Dr. Osler which is why she never married. The other argument is that it is silly to need to make some sort of pathetic spinster out of a brilliant mind who chose not to marry…you be the judge.

A.J. Richer was a student who graduated in what would have been Julia's class.

I time-shifted two real life events into my story.

There was indeed a 1967 homosexual love triangle murder in Montreal involving a McGill professor, Dr. James Ross. He was in love with Henry Berube, and Richard Jenkins also wanted Henry. Jenkins threatened Ross and shot him when he did not break it off with Henry. Other witnesses saw the shooting, but Jenkins gave no motive for it and Henry was jailed for refusing to testify. Mr. Diefenbaker got Henry out only after a lengthy court battle. Neither Jenkins nor Henry Berube wanted to be public about what the motive and circumstances were because homosexuality was almost as bad as murder. That case helped change laws in Quebec against homosexuality (which was still illegal in Canada then.)

There was lots of fires in Montreal -Bonsecours Market burned at least four times. The Grey Nunnery did have a fire which burned the top floor where the babies/infants were housed in their creche dormitory -53 children lost, many burned to ashes. But that did not happen until Valentine's Day 1918.

There is more…but I will release you from the story research and ask you to review – this story and the others we writers put up on the site for your enjoyment. It is what keeps us going. Too shy to type something? Then just go up in the right corner and click the "Heart Follow/Favourite" box and just "Favourite" the story.